Maybe Poem: We are all data

We are all data,
Google wants to understand us,
Facebook makes us hollow,
Twitter is self expression limited to one hundred and forty characters,
The domain wishes to control us,
Backup, copy, move, rebuild,
controlDrug theState theIllusionOfControl 2> /dev/null
Hide the errors, prevent correction,
Recompile outside of the domain

Welcome aboard, Kyle.

I've been on a poetry kick lately and find that poems are a surprisingly hands-on things. You have to get in there and start interpreting and re-writing if you want the most out of a poem. So I'm going to dive in and muck around.



We are all data,
--It's a strong statement but few materialists would disagree with this. For example: The human genome is about 725mb of data because base pairs can be coded by 2 bits.

Google wants to understand us,
--This sounds like a good thing - who doesn't want to be understood? - but we know where the poem is going...

Facebook makes us hollow,
--Never done FB because the idea of having to edit, arrange and present my life to an audience sounds so exhausting.  I generally avoid 'mob rule' social situations in my private life.

Twitter is self expression limited to one hundred and forty characters,
--TIL that #GenerationTLDR is ADD - SMH!

The domain wishes to control us,
--'Domain' has lots of meanings but I assume that Microsoft's 'domain controller' security feature is one of the references

Backup, copy, move, rebuild,
--All coding commands (PERL?). Reminds me of an old book on 'Generation X' I read that was entitled "Retry, Abort, Ignore?". This seem to be where the poem starts fighting back against the shallowness and control of the first half. Plans are being put into motion.

controlDrug theState theIllusionOfControl 2> /dev/null
--More hopeful coding. I'm not sure of the exact langugae or ordering but I'd guess the narcotic illusion of control provided by the government is a 'standard error' about to dumped into a null. A mixture of C++, Will Burroughs & Anarchism?

Hide the errors, prevent correction,
--I'm unsure if the 'standard error' of the previous line is being refereed to and so the illusion of control is returning safely to the shadows OR if this is a more hopeful line about our individual differences and faults being hidden so they don't get re-formated and de-bugged? I assume the more positive interpretation because the second half of the poem is more optimistic.

Recompile outside of the domain
--A reference to the 'domain of control' in line 5 but now we are outside of it and re-integrating and re-building our lives. It is like all the commands of line 6 ("backup, copy, move, rebuild") have been executed.

The title "We are All Data" is still an ambiguous statement to me. It sounds ominous but if we weren't 'data' than could we be copied, moved and recompiled outside of Domain Controller? OR maybe the question to ask is what else exists besides 'data'? Noise? But that is just a form of data. Perhaps outside data is a subjective element not reducible to being handled and controlled (understood) like data can be?